Ripp Van Winkle
by lizteroid
Summary: A new Pretender fic from moi.


**Chapter One;**

Miss Parker looked around the lobby in The Centre and she sighed harshly as she tried to locate Broots among the suits and the clacking heels of the women in the administration department of the corporation she had been a part of for as long as she could remember back. Her feaures were harsh, she was a beautiful woman though, somehow elegant in a way. It must have been how she held herself. A perfect mixture of poise, tenacity and of course bad ass.

The raven haired beauty glanced upon the balding lab technician and she grimaced at the sight of him; shirt all askew, collar all wrapped around the nape of his scrawny neck and his eyes were bulging from too much coffee with having to stay up all night working on cracking a new computer system The Centre had installed to their computers. It was work he had volunteered his services for, after receiving a glare from Parker. Nobody ever questioned one of her glares if they wanted to reach their next birthday.

She looked to his dishevelled appearance and she sneered at him a little before she let her expression turn back as serious as it had been before. Miss Parker sighed again and she spoke up finally, "What the hell happened to you, Broots?" she asked him, a rhetoric question if ever there was one.

Broots being the innocent, quivering cokroach he usually was, began to shake immediately under Parker's glare and he began to stutter, "Well...I...I..." Miss Parker nodded and raised a brow to him, as if making him hurry along with his answer to her. Finally he spoke up once again, "I stayed to hack into the system, like I said I would do." He annoucned to Parker and smiled slightly proud.

"Good, that's exactly what I expect from you."

"Y...yes, I know Miss Parker." Broots replied dutifully to her. It must have been a little strange calling her Miss Parker since she had, to everyone's glee taken Broots' hand in marriage, meaning he finally knew her first name, and called her by it often at home. To call her Miss Parker after so long was rather strange for Broots, though it didn't matter too much to him since he'd gotten the woman who meant the world to him.

Broots provided security and the real love Parker craved to feel, just like Tommy had provided for her. That was the first reason Parker had agreed to become his wife, the fact he could provide security; he would not leave her for another woman or man, and the fact he could provide love without having to make a deal with her, her father had done that many times with her, and it was surprising that she actually trusted any man enough to give herself to them. After her father had passed on, Parker had vowed to herself that she would make sure that she knew the man well enough before she trusted him.

Parker of course had been let down before. In the past men had used her, though she had used them just as much, but for Miss Parker 'the Saddest Little Valentine' things had become unbearable at one point that she couldn't stand to be around men, even though she was in a male dominated corporation. Parker often used her domineering skills to win over any man who thought they could get a piece of her, and she gave them what they wanted; the screw behind their wife's back, the release they'd craved for in weeks. Though in all reality, all Miss Parker had wanted was someone she could share love with and feel protected by them, someone who would stand by her in her darkest hours.

Out of the corners of her eyes, Miss Parker could see Broots staring at her. She gave a sigh and looked to him, "What is it?" she questioned him softly, yet tried to keep up her authoritative tone for Centre purposes. In all truth, Parker hated using that tone with Broots, compared to the years before when she had taken so much glee in using it on him, to make him cower before her. Those years before though, Parker had been angry still at her mother's death, and Broots had been the easiest and often closest target to channel her rage onto.

"Nothing..." he replied and turned his gaze down towards his feet, looking remarkably like a lost little boy before her then he glanced back up at her a little, with a gentle smile.

Miss Parker raised a brow and she let a casual yet questioning smile form across her lips while she looked to Broots, "There's something, tell me." She smiled and gazed into his eyes, she could see her own grey-blue reflected back in his. She saw him blush a little, his cheeks flushed that crimson red she had saw many a time while with Broots around her, it was a factor that made her fall for him some twenty years before.

Broots didn't reply to her comment but he smiled a little more. Parker noticed his discomfort and she nodded a little, "Hm, perhaps tell me when we're back at home?" she suggested him, to which he nodded and smiled somewhat gratefully to her.


End file.
